I spent this past weekend in Baltimore, MD with Esther, my sister Stephanie and my brother michael and his wife Cathy. It was supposed to include my other brother, David but we could not find a weekend that everybody was free so we decided to settle for 3 out of 4.

We picked Baltimore because it's about halfway between the Trenton area where my sister and I live and Roanoke, VA where my brother lives.The obvious attraction was the Inner Harbor among other things.

We got there Friday afternoon and ate at a very nice Italian restaurant in Glen Burnie (we were staying near the BWI Airport- accomadations in the Inner Harbor were a bit pricey) called the Olive Tree. If you didn't know it you would think you were at the Olive Garden. There's even another unconnected restaurant in the area called the Olive Grove that looks on paper like a clone of the other two.

The food was very good- the service not so good this time ( we had eaten here before on a trip to the Annapolis/ Baltimore area). We also had a group of about 25 people seated behind us and they were extremely rude and noisy.

We spent the day Saturday roaming around the Inner Harbor and other parts of the Baltimore Harbor via the Water Taxis. These are very convenient for getting from one place to another on the Waterfront and very reasonable- $8 fro an all day ticket.

We started out at the Rusty Scupper because that's where we would be eating dinner later. this was my brother's choice- it wouldn't have been mine.

Here's a photo of it taken from the water taxi.



We took the water taxi over to Harbor Place to transfer to the taxi that takes you out to Ft McHenry and Fell's Point. This is one of the small inconvenience with the water taxi- not all of them go to all of the stops. They are different sizes and some are more difficult than others to get on and off of- especially if you are physically challenged like my sister is.

I took a couple of photos of Seven Foot Knoll on the way to Harbor Place. I'm not sure if it just wasn't open yet or if it wasn't open at all but when we went by there was a closed sign blocking the stairs.



We continued on and I got some nice shots of the Lightship Chesapeake. Here's one. The lighthsip and Seven Foot Knoll are both tough to get shots with nothing blocking them or making it difficult to pick out things like the light masts on the Chesapeake.



We left Harbor Place and watered our way down to Fell's Point.

We changed taxis at Fell's Point and continued on to Ft. McHenry. We passed a faux lighthouse on the way. I asked the crew on the water taxi but they didn't know anything about it- including the name of the Marina it seemed to be positioned at. The crew on the way back didn't know either. Anybody here know?



We got a decent view of Lazaretto Point as we got closer to Ft. McHenry. Unfortunately there was a freighter tied up right next to the Lighthouse with the anchorage rope going right in front of the lighthouse. this was the best I could get.



We looked around the visitor's center of Ft. McHenry and watched the movie about the attack in 1814 but opted to not take the tour of the Fort itself.

We went back to Fell's Point and had lunch at an Irish Pub and then walked around there for a bit. We left there and went down to Harbor Place and walked around there for a bit. We then went back to the hotel for a swim.

We went back to the Rusty Scupper for dinner. In my opinion it is overrated and very overpriced. the food was good- but the prices were ridiculous. It did have a nice view of the Harbor but it still isn't worth the price to me.

Lighthouse adventures continued in the next post.

Dennis

Nice job Dennis...look forward to the next post!

I spent most of the morning Sunday driving around to some of the lighthouses in the area that I'd never been to. Everybody else stayed at the motel and took a swim.

I took off on I-695 towards the Francis Scott Key Bridge and got off just before the bridge and drove on down to a small park near the bridge.

You can get a distant view of the rmnants of Ft Carroll lighthosue from here. You can actually see the Lighthouse closer from the Key Bridge but it's tough to stop and get a photo- particularly since there's no shoulder and stopping is prohibited.

Here's one of the photos I took from the park-



There's not much left of this one.

I left there and continued over the Key Bridge and on to the Craighill Channel Lights. I managed to get to 3 out of 4 of them- although the photo of one is from a good distance.

I used the Lighthouse Friends site for my directions and they were very good. I got to all of them with little trouble.

The first one I got to was the Craighill Lower Rear Light. this was the closest I would get to any of them. It's right off the shore in Ramona Beach. I actually got a very distant view of the Craighill Lower Front Light as well from here.

Here's the Lower Rear Light-



I continued down to the next stop- North Point State Park - where I hoped to get a closer view of the Lower Front Light. It was a bit closer but not by much- this one is definitely best viewed by boat.



I left the park and continued further along the road to get to the VA Hospital at Fort Howard to see the Craighill Channel Upper Front Light. Unfortunately the VA Hospital appeared to be closed- or at the very least off limits. there was a police car blocking the entrance. I opted to go into fort Howard State Park hoping to get a closer view of the Craighill Lower Front Light but the view was about as far as the one near the Lower Rear Light.

I was going to stop at the police blockcade and ask if I could get in but I was getting short on time- I was supposed tob e back at the motel to check out by 12 Noon and it was almost 11:30 and I was about 20 minutes from the hotel.

I decided to see if I could get a view of the Craighill Upper Rear Light. I drove along and went down to the water where it looked best on the map I had. Unfortunately there was no free access to the shore from there or anyplace nearby. I saw someone on their back deck and asked if I could walk down on their dock to try and find the Light and they said sure (although I think they thought I was nuts).

The Craighill Upper Rear Light was almost directly across from the dock. Here's a shot of it-



I left the area and got back to the hotel at 11:55 and managed to check out by 12:05.

I missed one of the Channel Lights but I did mangae to add 5 lights to my total and got that much closer to my becoming member of the 40+3 Club of the Chesapeake Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society.

Dennis

I looked at a satellite photo of the area, and was able to pick out the lighthouse. When I zoomed in, I found that it was at Lighthouse Point. (Makes sense - right?)

When I put Lighthouse Point into Google, I found out that this is the Baltimore Maritime Center This is the picture from their website:

Quote:

We got a decent view of Lazaretto Point as we got closer to Ft. McHenry. Unfortunately there was a freighter tied up right next to the Lighthouse with the anchorage rope going right in front of the lighthouse. this was the best I could get.

I've never seen that lighthouse without a ship tied up in front of it. It is a replica.

Quote:

We went back to the Rusty Scupper for dinner. In my opinion it is overrated and very overpriced. the food was good- but the prices were ridiculous. It did have a nice view of the Harbor but it still isn't worth the price to me.

Lighthouse adventures continued in the next post.

Dennis

I agree - reasonably good food, sky high prices to pay for the nice view. When we ate there, they did have nice lighthouse pictures adorning the walls.

Rosalie,

Thanks for the link for the Faux Lighthouse.

Here's an interesting point they have listed there-

"Situated on the site of the old J.S. Young Licorice Factory, remnants of the old factory buildings still remain. Retail stores and offices are located in this renovated building fronting Boston Street. A smokestack built in 1883, converted into a working lighthouse, serves as a landmark and namesake for Lighthouse Point. Keeping with the turn-of-the-century industrial architecture, newly constructed buildings add to the flavor and charm of this urban oasis. "

I forgot that Lazaretto Point was only a replica- my mistake. I should ahve put that bit of info into my narrative.

Thanks for pointing that out.

There are still nice lighthouse pictures at the Rusty Scupper- still not enough to make up for the prices.

Dennis

Thanks for sharing your pictures and report, Dennis. I hate to see that Ft. Carroll continues to be left to die a slow death. Such a pity!